Carry on, Cherry
by Magiwren
Summary: As they passed a dark alleyway there was a loud crashing sound and both boys froze. "Cat?" Simon asked hopefully. Baz breathed in deeply through his nose. "Nope. Definitely not a cat." "Then what is it?" "I… don't know," Baz whispered and narrowed his eyes into the alley. "But it's not Normal."
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is a Secret Santa story so I'll be posting multiple chapters right now but it's still not quite finished yet. I'm working on it!_

 _I'd like to personally thank everyone on the Simon Snow chat for helping me come up with this story! Your support and enthusiasm was much appreciated. :D_

 _Anyway, I warn you of spoilers. There will be many spoilers, so, if you haven't read the book yet, I don't recommend reading this fanfic. I know, it can be hard, but this story will still be up when you've finished. Unless the internet gets suddenly deleted… but that probably won't happen…._

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

 _ **Simon**_

It was very cold to say the least. Frost glittered on the ground and the air was foggy… crispy even.

Suddenly, a very young man with slick black hair, pale skin, and flashing gray eyes strolled out of one of the stores. He wore black jeans and a fancy gray sweater vest. A red scarf was draped around his neck and a bag was on one of his arms; the other hand was buried in his left pocket. He was also whistling-a very nice sound in the freezing air.

He stopped however when he noticed someone standing beside the Starbucks across the street.

"Well, well, well," he said with a smirk. "Don't you look strapping."

Simon Snow was leaning against the wall in a dark blue jumper dotted in snowflakes. He also had a scarf, and a hat, though his curls still peeked through around the edges. Both his breath and the cup in his hand were steaming.

"Merlin," Simon snorted with a roll of his eyes. "What took you so long? You were in that store for hours!"

Baz shrugged. "Sorry. I can take this all back, if you'd like." He jerked the arm holding the bag. "They're _just_ your Christmas presents. But, you know, if you don't _want_ them—"

"You got me Christmas presents?" There was something warm tingling in Simon's chest and he beamed at Baz. The vampire gave him a look and Simon stepped forward to kiss his cheek. "You are so sweet!"

"Enough, Snow," Baz muttered but still nuzzled into the side of Simon's head for a moment. "Where's Bunce?"

"Don't know." Simon stepped away and adjusted his grip on the steaming cup. "Sometimes I'm not sure you _can_ keep track of women. It might be impossible."

"Crowley, she's _your_ bloody roommate, Snow," Baz sighed. "I expected you to be at least _slightly aware_ of the general direction that she's in."

Simon cocked his head to the side and gave a little goofy smile. Baz was nervous about something; he kept poking at his canines with his tongue. If Baz was nervous… that could only mean that he wasn't sure if he'd like the gift he'd gotten him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Baz asked.

Simon's grin grew and he stepped forward to rub Baz's stomach with his hand softly. He'd recently figured out that this seemed to really do something for Baz. He got all quiet and closed his eyes—sometimes he made a purring noise in his throat.

"You don't have to be nervous," Simon said quietly. "I'm sure I'll like your gift."

"I'm not nervous, Snow," Baz growled in reply.

"Mmhmm, okay." Simon leaned up and kissed his boyfriend softly on the mouth.

Simon loved this; kissing (and getting kissed _by_ ) his boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around Baz's neck and felt his boyfriend's tongue flick playfully against his own. Instead of playing back, Simon tilted his head and sighed contentedly; he could feel one of Baz's hands on his lower back and the other near his shoulders, gently rubbing where his wings met his back. The feeling made him shiver which made Baz press forward a little more and deepen their kiss.

"Ew. Guys, can you please not."

They pulled away. Penelope Bunce was walking up the street in a dark purple turtleneck sweater. She was holding a bag of chips under her arm and she shifted it with a crackling sound. Today, her hair was red, dip-dyed green for a Christmas look.

"Why?" Baz asked with a smirk, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Does it make you uncomfortable, Bunce?"

"Yeah, kind of."

Baz snorted and hooked an arm around Simon's waist. "Would it help if I kissed you, too?" Simon shoved him hard and sent him a sideways glare. "I'm kidding, Snow. You know I wouldn't give you up for the world."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Alright well, let's go see Agatha! I can't wait to see how she's doing."

They all started down the road, Simon was leaning into Baz who still had an arm around him and was now playing with his tail. Simon liked it when his boyfriend played with his tail, it let him know that Baz loved _every_ bit of him… including his stupid tail and wings.

They were meeting Agatha for dinner before she headed over to her parents' house for Christmas. Simon made a mental note to go shopping the next day, which was exactly one week before Christmas, and get presents for everyone. He felt so guilty about not having done it already but it had been such a busy week that he hadn't really gotten the chance…. Plus, there was that whole thing with Baz….

"So where do we want to have dinner?" asked Penny, interrupting Simon's thoughts abruptly. "I was thinking somewhere we could have some cocoa; I'm freezing!"

"Me, too," Simon agreed. "And I _just_ had a cocoa from Starbucks."

"You should've spelled your hair white, Bunce," said Baz for no apparent reason. "That would have been so much more appropriate for the season."

"Shutup, Basil," Penelope muttered. "My hair's fine."

Baz chuckled.

Simon rolled his eyes. "So, Pens, are you going to visit Micah for Christmas?"

Penny didn't answer because she had signaled the attention of a cab. "Everybody in," she said. "Let's go get Agatha."

# # #

Seeing Agatha again was awkward at best. It had taken _five years_ in order to convince her to come back to England for awhile. Penelope had visited her whenever she was in America with Micah, and they had Skyped and stuff…. But it was still awkward.

After meeting up with Agatha they went to a restaurant called _La Quila_ or something like that. Once their orders were taken—and Simon somehow managed to find a comfortable way to sit so that his wings weren't getting crushed—the four fell into a silence.

"So, Penny," said Agatha. "Are you going to see Micah this year?"

Simon looked up and saw that Penny was blushing a little. She took off her glasses and started cleaning them, which was not normal. Usually she just cast **Clean as a whistle** on them. She was nervous about something, Simon could tell as easily as he could tell when _Baz_ was nervous about something.

"Um… yeah, about that." Penelope looked up at them with a look on her face that Simon couldn't really read. "Apparently, Micah is coming to _London_ to see _me_ this year."

There was a pause. Then Simon grinned. "That's great, Penny."

"No!" she hissed. "No, it's _not_ great. Why do you think he's coming up here all of a sudden anyway? Do you think he doesn't trust me and thinks I'm cheating on him? Does he think I can't take care of myself? Do—"

" _Bunce!_ " Baz sighed in exasperation. "Your boyfriend is trying to take a step in your relationship."

Again, the table fell silent. "What?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Baz raised arched a single eyebrow at her. Simon watched closely. Over the past few days he had tried to do that himself and had practiced in the mirror, but he hadn't made any progress and there was no way he was asking Baz for advice on it. "He wants to move forward." Baz made a motion with his hand. "Clearly he's handling that by coming to London in order to see you and show his commitment or something."

That went on for a little while, but Simon didn't really listen to most of it, being too busy trying to get comfortable with his wings. (Though, he did hear that though Micah was coming to London, he and Penny would be going on a road trip out of town for a week or so.) When they had all finished dinner and the girls both went back to Agatha's place for a while it was already getting dark and Simon's wings were starting to become visible again.

He and Baz walked down the quiet road in a comfortable silence; Simon leaning slightly towards Baz. He felt tired and ready to sleep heavily before having to get up and deal with the almost-Christmas-and-I-still-don't-know-what-to-get-anyone shopping.

As they passed a dark alleyway there was a loud crashing sound and both boys froze.

"Cat?" Simon asked hopefully.

Baz breathed in deeply through his nose. "Nope. Definitely not a cat."

"Then what is it?"

"I… don't know," Baz whispered and narrowed his eyes into the alley. "But it's not Normal."

Simon's tail flicked from side to side nervously but he took a step into the alley and listened. There was a strange noise coming from garbage cans that were lined up in the alley. He nudged Baz and motioned for him to make a fire in his hand but Baz shook his head and mouthed, _someone might see._

Instead, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at an old street light. " _ **Let there be light**_ ," he hissed and the lamp's light sprang to life. It showered down into the alley and there, right in the centre of the beam, something no bigger than a large cat crouched with its tail flicking from side to side.

Baz and Simon stepped forward. The thing hissed and backed up against the wall; its claws scraped against the ground frantically. Simon narrowed his eyes and crouched down so that he was basically on all fours.

All he could see was its yellow eyes, slitted like a cats, but different… almost… reptilian?

 _Dragon!_ That thing was a dragon! Simon's wings flared in surprise and panic and his tail whipped back and forth.

"What is it, Snow?" Baz demanded. He was still standing at the edge of the alley, which puzzled Simon. Why wouldn't he follow him?

The dragon made another sound in its throat; a funny chirping kind of sound, and threw itself at Simon wildly. Claws outstretched, mouth open as it let out a shriek. Baz shouted something, Simon flared his wings again in alarm and tried to run but the dragon hit him before he could move!

"Ah!" Simon yelled and jumped to his feet as the dragon scrambled up his side dove at his wings.

Then nothing.

Simon twisted around to look at what was going on and saw that the dragon was perched in between his wings—which were now fully visible—with its claws hooked into his shirt to hold itself there while he was standing upright. Its tail was wound around one of his wings.

"Rhyming rattlesnakes!" gasped Baz. "It's a _baby_!"

Simon continued to turn in circles until Baz called his name. He stopped and looked at the vampire with wide eyes. "What do I do? Why are you still standing all the way over there?" Baz had clearly moved but he was still a good distance away.

"It's a baby," Baz muttered.

"Kids make me nervous, too," Simon pointed out. "However, I'm pretty sure I'd risk being uncomfortable if one appeared to be _attacking_ you."

Baz's face twisted into an annoyed expression—Simon knew he would have been blushing if he could. "No—Snow, baby dragons can't send off hostile 'back off' signals to other not-fully-human creatures. Our little friend is telling me to stay back; and frankly, I'm not really in the mood to risk what it would _do_ if I didn't listen."

"Baz, _look_ at this thing!" Simon twisted around so that Baz could see the baby perched in between his wings. "The most damage he's gonna do is squeal at you!"

"First of all, Snow, dragons don't 'squeal'. Second, of all—"

Simon had twisted back around at the same moment the baby dragon seemed to have enough with all the spinning. He felt its claws dig into his back and straighten rigidly with a loud, "Ack!"

"Snow?" Baz's gray eyes widened and he took a step forward in concern. "Are you okay?"

The blond waved his hand around a little. "Give or take. Though, I may have a few very claw-shaped scars on my back for the rest of my life."

"It's _hurting_ you?" Baz's eyes narrowed to slits.

Simon could feel the dragon's rough-scaled stomach pressing against his back; it was shaking. The poor thing was terrified. Simon may not have been magic anymore, but he could still pick up on nervous or agitated magic when it came off of something in waves like it was with this little thing.

He held up his hands. "No. Baz, I'm fine. It's just scared."

Basilton didn't look convinced. "We could get that off if you just slam your back into the wall," he pointed out. "It wouldn't want to keep clinging onto you like that anymore."

"First of all," Simon began, "good _gods,_ do you have any idea how much that would hurt? Second of all." He craned his neck to look over his shoulder at the baby. It met his eyes with a pair of narrowed yellow ones. "I uh… I'm not sure I want it off just yet."

"Great snakes. Crowley, Snow, then what do you plan to do?"

# # #

 _ **Baz**_

Of course this was Simon's plan. _Of course_ this was Simon bloody Snow's fucking _brilliant_ plan.

They had hurried to Baz's flat as fast as magicianly possible—and the whole time that bloody dragon hadn't removed itself from Simon's back! Was Baz supposed to be feeling jealous? He still didn't really know how boyfriends were supposed to do things when something seemed unnaturally attached to their partners' back.

Though, Baz _did_ know that they probably still needed to talk about… _that thing_ that Baz had expressed a few weeks ago—almost a month now.

He didn't really want to think about it just then.

Baz unlocked the door to his flat and they slipped inside. Simon pulled the coat that they had used to cover up the baby out from in between his wings and tossed it onto the couch. Baz saw the dragon dig its claws into Simon's back again and he growled.

"That's it," he said. "I'm getting that thing off of you."

Simon's eyes got a little bigger as he started towards him. "Whoa. Baz, don't hurt it."

Without answering Baz grabbed him by the arm and spun him around so that he was looking at the dragon. It hissed and dug in its claws harder.

"Ow," muttered Simon.

"Keep still." Baz grabbed the baby dragon around the middle and just below the jaw so that it couldn't bite him. He yanked it off his boyfriend's back— _he_ was the only one allowed there as far as Baz was concerned—and held it up.

The baby dragon let out a high pitched shriek and struggled out of his grip. It darted around the room, jumping off of walls until it hit the door, then it made a high growling sound and leaped back towards Simon, claws outstretched. Snow let out a yelp as it landed on his shoulder and curled around his neck.

Suddenly, Simon's eyes got all big and he looked at Baz. "Baz," he whispered, "where's its mum?"

Baz held back a wince. He _knew_ that face Simon was making. Simon always made that face when he was about to say something that he knew Baz wouldn't like, so he pulled the puppy dog eyes. He sighed and narrowed his eyes. "I don't know, Snow."

"Do you think she…."

"I'm sure she's not dead, Simon."

Simon bit his lip. " _Baz_."

"Don't even ask," Baz interrupted. "We are _not_ keeping a dragon here. If anyone found out I'd probably have my wand snapped!"

"Oh, but we wouldn't _keep_ it," Simon protested. "We'd just look after it until we find out where its mum is. Please, Baz, we can't just let it roam around out there by itself. It'll be killed!"

Baz looked at the baby dragon sitting on his boyfriend's shoulder. She—he knew it was a girl because of the thick horn on the edge of her nose; males lost that when they broke out of the egg and the females usually chipped the tip off, but it normally smoothed out again—had her tail flicking from side to side and her wings were rigid. She was clearly shaken up from all that had happened, though why she had chosen to follow Snow out of all the magicians in England….

Then it clicked.

"Crowley, of _course_!" Baz pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

"Um… excuse me?"

"It's your bloody wings, Snow!" Baz laughed. " _That's_ why she decided to follow us! Great snakes, she thinks you're another dragon."

That smile that tugged at Simon's mouth did not bode well for Basilton's "no dragons" rule. Aleister Crowley, that _face_ …. Baz could never say no to it. He sighed heavily. "Please don't ask, Snow."

Simon gave him an apologetic look. "Please? I have to help it—her—to find her mum again."

Baz grit his teeth and huffed. "Fine. Whatever. We'll keep it here, since we all know Bunce would have a fit if it got into her books. Besides, you were gonna stay here anyway while she was off with her American man anyway, right?"

"Of course." Baz wanted to be annoyed—maybe even a little mad—but Snow looked so goddamn _happy_. What was he supposed to do? "Thank you, Baz." Simon beamed and stepped forward as if he wanted to kiss him or something but the dragon hissed fiercely and he stepped back again.

"Right," Baz sighed. "Why don't we do that later."

Simon nodded. "So, uh, where shall I put her for tonight."

"Guest bathroom for now," Baz yawned. "I'll meet you in the bedroom. Just make sure there's nothing she can get into that might possibly be dangerous."

"Alright," said Simon. "I be there in a minute then."

Baz, still struggling with his yawns, turned and walked down the hall towards his bedroom. He felt tempted to say, "I love you" or something but he remembered the last time he thought about saying that when Simon had told him that he wasn't really sure that he was ready for "all that" as he had put it then. So he ignored the thought and slipped into his room to wait for his boyfriend.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hiya! Here's chapter two! Sorry… I have absolutely nothing to say most of the time._

 _Actually! I do have a fun fact! Numpty means idiot; apparently it came from Scotland and the British kind of picked it up…. Most of you probably know that, but I didn't so there ya go._

 _Now, uh… on with the story. -_-_

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO**

 _ **Simon**_

Simon slept on his stomach. He had to. It was actually next to impossible for him to sleep on his back with those bloody wings sticking out of his back. He kind of missed being able to sleep on his back—though he used to sleep on his side or stomach all the time anyway, but it was nice to have the option of going to sleep while staring at the ceiling.

He was just glad that Baz didn't mind his wing issue when it came to sleeping. Simon's wings—when he shared a bed with Baz—normally spread out over the bed so that one was hanging off the side and the other had basically draped itself around Basil like an extra blanket. "Best blanket ever when it's cold out," Baz always told him the next morning. "Do you have any idea how much body warmth you keep in those things?"

For the most part Simon didn't mind. He just wished that he could put them away sometimes or something like that.

Meh. But now wasn't the time to think about that when there was a half-asleep Baz mouthing lazily at the side of his neck. It was a thing he did almost every time Simon stayed over: he started to wake up and somehow managed to scoot over as close to Simon as he possibly could without waking him, then just kind of nuzzled into the crook of his neck until one of them started to wake up. (Simon prefered to ignore the fact that this could be his early-morning vampire urges starting to kick in when he wasn't fully conscious.)

Suddenly, a loud shriek filled the house coming from the guest bathroom. Simon and Baz both jumped bad enough to shake the bed. Baz's pupils were blown out then got very tiny so that his whole eye looked silver, he scowled, rolled over, yanked the covers over his head, and shoved Simon so that he almost fell off the bed.

"Oy!" Simon yelped when he barely caught himself. "What was that for, you prat!"

Baz mumbled something from under the blankets and Simon saw him shift around to get more comfortable. "It's _your_ bloody dragon. Go make it shut up."

Simon's tail lashed painfully against the metal bedframe. "Arse-headed blighter," he muttered in annoyance and stood up, stretching his wings.

"I apologize. Where are my manners." Baz rolled over to Simon's side of the bed, grabbed Simon by the collar of his shirt, and pulled him down to kiss him thoroughly on the mouth. "Good morning, beautiful."

Simon rolled his eyes. But he found himself blushing… just a little bit. "Shut up, git," he muttered and headed towards the door. He rolled his eyes again when he heard Baz throw the blankets back over his head and sigh contentedly.

The high-pitched cry just got louder and louder the closer Simon got to the bathroom. He knocked on the door loudly but that didn't stop it. Simon sighed and opened the door so that he could peek inside.

The bathroom was empty.

Simon jolted the door fully open and looked around frantically. She couldn't have _escaped_! There weren't any windows! The toilet seat was closed, the dog bed he had put in there was empty, and the walls didn't even seem all that scratched. She couldn't have gotten out threw the shower, could she?

Then he heard the chirping and looked to his right. The red baby dragon was clinging to the door—which had _plenty_ of scratch marks. _Better keep Baz from seeing_ —with her eyes bright and ears pricked up. As soon as he saw her, the dragon chirped happily and jumped onto his shoulder. She butted her head into the side of his neck near where Baz had been nibbling at moments ago. _Oh look, they have something in common already. A mutual interest in my neck._

Simon sighed and started for the kitchen, his stomach growling. But as he got near it the baby dragon suddenly hissed and jumped away. She landed on the couch and sunk her teeth into one of the pillows, kicking at it furiously.

"No!" Simon yelled. "Stop that!" He ran forward and grabbed her. The dragon chirped and ran up his arm to curl around his neck again. "Baz is gonna be so mad at you if you don't stop that," Simon scolded.

The dragon hissed again.

"Yeah. Morning to you, too." Simon looked up apologetically at Baz who was standing in the hallway to his bedroom with his arms crossed.

Simon felt the dragon nip at his ear—not hard enough to break skin but it still hurt—and he flinched. "Ow. What was that for? Why is everyone being such a prat this morning?"

Baz laughed from where he was standing. "She's hungry."

"Well, I tried to take her into the kitchen but she started getting all agitated and tried to shred your pillow."

"Probably smells a lot like me in there. I like cooking." Baz started for the kitchen himself. "So, what would you like for breakfast?"

Simon ignored him for a moment because the dragon nipped him again. "Little thumping twat," he muttered, but fondly. "I think she needs a name."

"No, Snow. The dragon does _not_ need a name," Baz told him firmly. "Dragons are very powerful creatures. Names mean nothing to them."

Simon looked at him and noticed that he was still standing his distance. "Is she still telling you to stay away?"

"She doesn't like me."

"So… the 'back off' signal. What did it feel like?" Simon asked. "Back in the alley, I mean."

Baz glared at the dragon still sitting on Simon's shoulder. "I don't know. I felt… propelled. Like I wasn't welcome there."

Simon stared. "The dragon tried to propel you?" He suddenly started laughing. "Maybe we should name her _Garlic_!"

"We are not naming a red dragon 'Garlic', Snow," Baz hissed. "We're not naming it _anything_."

Simon continued to giggle. "Well, you are right about that. She _is_ a red dragon; naming her Garlic might be a bit weird." He looked at his shoulder where she was crouched down and glaring at Baz. "Cherry."

" _Snow!_ "

"What? We've gotta call her _something_ while she's here," Simon reminded him. "Plus, cherry scones are my favorite. And I'm not really up to naming her Scone."

From his shoulder, Cherry nipped his ear again.

"Alright, enough is enough. What kind of food do dragons eat, anyway?"

Baz shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I'll get out some of my old books and we'll see what we can find. In the meantime you can stick her in the bathroom with something to snack on and I'll make _us_ breakfast."

"What about cat food?" Simon asked.

"Cat food?"

"Yeah. Like the canned _Friskies_ kind. I always love the smell of those and they're kind of meaty right? And dragons eat meat… don't they?"

"Is _that_ why you keep buying them?" Baz asked. "You like to _smell_ them?"

Simon frowned. "It was _one_ time! And I just wanted to _try_ one. They smell _amazing_."

"Snow, you bought a twenty-four pack of them!"

"That's all they were selling at the store," Simon protested.

Baz rolled his eyes. He went into the kitchen and reappeared with a can of cat food in his hand. "Here," he said. "Stick her back in the bathroom with this for now."

Simon stepped forward to take it but Cherry growled from his shoulder and lashed her little tail from side to side so that Simon had to snatch the can from Baz's hand and quickly step away again. "Thanks. I'll be right in."

Baz was making bacon, eggs, and Simon could smell that he had put scones in the oven. Probably for later since they wouldn't be done in time for breakfast, but Simon's stomach still growled in apprehension. He stepped into the kitchen and watched Baz stirring the eggs briskly while adding salt.

"Hey," said Simon. "You're not mad at me for this whole dragon thing, are you?"

Baz glanced up at him then looked back at the eggs. "Nah. I kind of want to be because this dragon is already pressing my buttons, but I can't." He sent Simon a grin. "You're just too damn amazing."

He could feel his face get warm when Baz said that. Simon flicked his tail and glanced away almost nervously. "So, how exactly does one find a mother dragon?"

"Dunno. Like I said, I'll go take a look at all my books about dragons and you can hang out with your little friend in there." Baz jerked his head in the direction of the guest bathroom. "Just make sure she doesn't trash _everything_ that smells like me; remember this is my house."

Simon grinned and walked over to wrap his arms around his boyfriend's torso. "I'll make sure that Cherry doesn't eat your stuff."

The vampire leaned into him and smirked. They quickly ate breakfast and Baz stood to go dig around in his bedroom closet and look for books.

"Okay," he sighed heavily. "I'll go see what I can find. You just… keep little Cherry busy, I guess."

Simon stood up quickly to stop Baz from walking away. "Hold on." He pulled Baz close to him and kissed him.

Baz immediately wound his arms around Simon's waist and tilted his head to the side. Simon's arms were up around his neck—because the bloody plonker was still at least three inches taller than him!—and his head was tipped back. Simon ran his tongue around Baz's teasingly—he felt his wings shiver when Baz ran his cold hands up his back—then pulled away.

"There. Now you can go." Simon smirked when he saw that Baz looked a little flushed and turned to go get Cherry out of the bathroom—she was already starting to cry.

"I'm coming, you little bugger," he muttered. As soon as the door was open Cherry darted up his leg to sit on his shoulder. Then she sniffed him and hissed. "Yeah, I smell like Baz," Simon told her. "You would too if you decided to snog him."

He heard Baz laugh from the hallway. Cherry hissed in that direction and curled her scaley tail around Simon's neck. He reached up to pet the side of her head; the scales were smooth against his finger. Cherry's throat rumbled like a purr.

"Baz isn't really worth hating forever," Simon told the dragon. "Though, I _do_ understand where you're coming from."

Cherry leaped off his shoulder and glided to the couch. With a loud chirping noise Cherry crawled onto the back of the couch and glared at the hallway, her nose flaring. Simon rolled his eyes. "Cherry, I do not understand you." He went into the kitchen to get another one of those cat food cans. He didn't know much about dragons, but he was pretty sure babies wouldn't say no to some food.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: I'm having a good time writing this. Hope you're all enjoying reading it!_

* * *

 **CHAPTER THREE**

 _ **Simon**_

"Cherry! Stop it!"

The little red dragon ignored Simon's shout and continued to race around the room. Knocking things over and scratching anything that got in her way.

Suddenly Baz burst out of the hall with his eyes wide. Cherry swerved around to race up Simon's leg and perch on his shoulder. She snarled and hissed at Baz angrily.

"Great snakes," Baz gasped when he looked around his living room. "What did she do?!"

"I'm _so_ sorry!" Simon told him in a hurry. "I promise I'll fix everything up later. I just think she's getting bored. She's got nothing to play with." He looked around at the scratched up room. "I swear I'll fix everything."

Baz held up his hand. "Enough, Snow," he growled and pulled out his wand. " _ **Put Humpty together again**_." While everything started mending itself Cherry jumped to the floor and started chasing one of the strings that was making its way back to the couch.

"I _am_ sorry, Baz," Simon told him. "I just don't know how to take care of a baby dragon."

"That's okay," said Baz and pulled out a thin brown book. "Because _this_ does."

Simon walked over and took the book in his hands: _Dragon Training for the Inexperienced._ "Well, I'm certainly inexperienced." He grinned. "Thanks."

"I have some more in the bedroom, too."

Simon went up on his toes and gave Baz a quick kiss. "Thank you for helping me with this."

Baz had his hands on Simon's waist and he smiled. "You want to help a baby find her mother. If I said no then I would be considered a monster."

"You still have a choice, though. You know that right?"

"Of course I do." Baz kissed his nose.

There was a clicking sound behind them and Simon glanced over his shoulder. Cherry was sitting in the middle of the living room with her head tipped to one side, watching them.

Quick as a flash, she ran across the room and darted up Simon's legs. She sat on his shoulder—this was the closest she had ever come to Baz. Cherry leaned forward to sniff him and wrinkled her nose; which looked a little weird since her nose was covered in bright red scales.

Baz raised an eyebrow as Cherry leaned away again but didn't hiss. She sat up straight and gave him an unimpressed look.

"So… do you think she'll tolerate me?" he asked.

Simon almost shrugged before he remembered the baby dragon still sitting stiffly on his shoulder. "Dunno. I don't speak dragon." He sighed. "Hopefully."

Baz made a grumbling noise. "So, how exactly do we find this thing's mother?" he said. "I mean, you don't honestly think we're gonna find her by simply traipsing around town?"

Simon stepped away from Baz and Cherry relaxed more and wrapped her tail around his neck. "Well, I was _hoping_ there was something in one of those books of yours."

"Hmm. Well, I've gotta go into town and get some more food for your little friend but, _um,_ you could always call Bunce and see if _she_ knows anything for the time being?"

With a sigh, Simon nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"Right then. I'll see you later." Baz quickly kissed him right next to his ear—Cherry growled but didn't try to bite him or anything—and then started toward the door after grabbing his keys to the flat. "Oh, and Simon?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't let her destroy my house?"

Simon smiled sheepishly. "I won't. Cherry will be good."

After Baz had left, Simon sat down on the couch carefully, to avoid sitting on his tail or crushing his wings. Cherry climbed down into his lap and curled up there while he reached over to grab the phone; Simon dialed Penny's number and waited.

" _Hello?"_ Penelope's voice sounded thick with sleep.

"Hi," said Simon. "How're you and Micah doing?"

" _Well, we drove to this cool little cabin place last night. It's really cool up here, I wish you could see it. Right up near the mountains. Anyway, we stayed up_ really _late last night so I'm exhausted."_

"Up late last night, huh?" Simon let a suggestive note come into his voice. "Can't imagine what you two could have been _doing…_."

" _Shut up, Simon. We were_ talking."

"Uh-huh."

" _What do you want?"_ Penny growled in annoyance.

Simon took a breath. "Um, yeah. Penny, me and Baz have a little bit of a problem."

" _Like, a_ problem _problem?"_

"You could call it that."

" _Simon."_ Penny's voice was careful. " _Are you two doing all right?"_

She sounded so concerned that Simon was confused. "What? Of course."

" _I mean… you didn't break up or anything, did you?"_

"Wha—" Simon choked. "No, Penny! It's nothing like that. We found a baby dragon and now I'm taking care of it, and I was wondering if you knew anything about summoning mother dragons?" He said it all very fast so that it took his friend a few moments to register what he had said.

" _What?!"_ Simon jumped when the Penny's shrill cry reached his ear. " _Honestly, Simon. I leave you for_ one day _and you go and adopt a dragon!"_

"We didn't adopt it," he protested. "Baz and I just found it in an alley the other day—"

" _And you decided to take it home?!"_

Simon winced. "Well, when you put it like that, you make us sound irresponsible. But, Penny, she would have died without us. Her mother wasn't with her and she looked so scared."

There was a moment of silence other than the sound of Penny's breathing and heavy sighs on the other end of the phone. " _Alright, Simon, there are a few different spells you and Baz could try for summoning the mother. It could be tricky though, so the baby had better trust you."_

"Tricky how?"

" _When, and if, the mother shows up she probably won't be very happy to see you with her child. If the baby doesn't trust you both at least a little then she'll probably just give the mum permission to eat you, honestly."_

 _Well, that's unfortunate,_ Simon thought. "So… you're saying that we have to gain Cherry's trust before we can try giving her back to her mum?"

There was a loud sigh. " _Simon, please tell me you didn't name it."_

# # #

 _ **Baz**_

Tyrannus Basilton Pitch was completely and totally screwed.

"Don't talk like that, Baz," Simon pleaded. "I'm sure Cherry will learn to like you."

"And the Mage was my father!" Baz snapped. "C'mon, Snow, don't lie to me. You know as well as I do that your little dragon friend will _never_ learn to like me in a million years! We may as well put me on a giant plate and offer me right up to insure that Mrs. Dragon doesn't eat you as well!"

Simon crossed his arms to glare at him. "Basilton, you are not going to get eaten. If push comes to shove than I guess you don't have to come with me to summon the mother."

"Snow, you don't have any magic to _summon_ the mother, you idiot."

"Dammit. You're right."

Baz leaned back against the couch to give him a long look. "We _could_ just leave the baby somewhere near the mountains and hope they find each other on their own."

"Yeah. And now the Mage was _my_ father."

"And we're actually half brothers that snog every now and then," Baz continued. "It's sick really. But no one else seems to know."

"Shut up, Baz, that's not funny."

Baz shrugged. "Depends on your sense of humor."

"I think we're getting off topic here, Pitch." Simon was giving him a look that stood in between annoyance and almost-amusement.

Any second now, Baz was going to start kissing this clueless bastard in front of him. He wanted to just grab him and attack his mouth the way he loved to do, but he knew that Snow probably wanted to deal with the problem at hand first so he held himself in check.

"Okay," Baz sighed. "What exactly is your plan to get me and…," he grimaced, " _Cherry_ to get all cuddly with each other."

Simon rolled his eyes but sat down on the couch and face Baz—which must have been difficult, Baz thought, because it looked very uncomfortable to see him squish up his wings like that and keep them that way.

"Alright," he said as if he'd spent hours thinking up a brilliant plan. "You know how she was watching us this morning?"

"Yes…." Baz raised an eyebrow and held back a snicker when he saw Simon's eyes trail after the movement. There he was doing it again; trying to figure out how Baz raised a single eyebrow. "And?"

"Well…. After we, uh, finished, she actually got closer to you, right? Without even hissing or anything."

"Right…?" Baz leaned away a little bit. "Snow, where are you going with this?"

Simon gave him a wide grin. "I think it's clear that in order to get her to trust you, you clearly need to start kissing me more often. That way she'll see us and notice that _I_ seem to like you, and maybe she'll start to realize that it's okay if _she_ likes you, too."

Baz blinked. "Snow, are you telling me that your brilliant plan is to get me to snog you more often?"

"Kind of, yeah."

Baz snorted through his nose. "Well, it sure doesn't sound like something I wouldn't enjoy. We could give it a try."

The smile that Simon gave him made Baz grab the front of his shirt so that he kiss him.

"She's not in here right now, Basilton," he mumbled.

Baz ignored him and pulled Simon closer until he was sitting in Baz's lap. He could feel Simon's fingers running through his hair and that felt _really_ good. Baz kissed Snow gently and tried to pull him closer still when Snow place and hand on his chest and pulled away.

"Not now," he said.

Baz's heart sank. That's what Simon always said whenever he tried to get extra intimate or something. "Not now" was always the answer. Baz knew that Simon was a bit uncomfortable because the last time he had said "I love you" to someone… well, that had been when he and Agatha were breaking up so he understood that there were probably some pained memories there—that and this was Simon first real relationship with someone who wasn't his "Happily ever after," much less a boy… much less _Baz_.

He still wished Simon would get over his problem so they could talk about it. Snow seemed intent on keeping his feelings on having sex with Baz and all that other intimate boyfriend stuff as far out of the conversation as possible. He was _way_ too nervous about it… they _really_ needed to talk about it.

Snow stood up and went to go get Cherry out of the bathroom while Baz sent the bag of meats that he'd bought at the store a baleful look. He then stood up and took the bag into the kitchen; the last thing he needed was that dragon pouncing on the food right away and scattering it all over the apartment.

"So, what did you get?" Simon asked. He was standing in the doorway to the kitchen with Cherry on his shoulder. She glanced around nervously then fixed Baz with a curious stare.

"I got an assortment of meats," Baz told him with a smirk. "You know, ham, turkey, beef, steak, bacon, I could go on."

"You got _bacon_?" Simon's eyes lit up which made Baz's stomach jump a little. He winked to hide it.

"Yep. Figured we'd try out at least a bit of all of them and see which ones Cherry seemed to like most."

"Hey." Simon tilted his head to one side and smiled at Baz fondly. "You called her Cherry."

Baz scoffed out a laugh. "Yeah. I suppose I did."

From Snow's shoulder, Cherry flexed her neck and dropped to the tiled kitchen floor. Carefully, she prowled over to where Baz was standing next to the counter and reared up on her hind legs to sniff. _She smells the food up here,_ Baz thought. Cherry sent him a glare then bunched up her hind-quarters like a cat and, flapping her little wings furiously, leaped onto the counter.

She and Baz made eye contact. "Yeah. Hi." Baz raised an eyebrow at her and Cherry's slitted, yellow eyes widened. Her pupils went after the movement.

"Snow," Baz chuckled, "are you sure this one isn't yours? I swear every other thing about her screams Simon Snow."

"Or, that eyebrow thing you do is just very interesting," Simon huffed.

They cut open the packaging of the different types of meats that Baz had bought, including another can of that cat food stuff. (Seriously, Baz would _never_ fully understand his boyfriend.)

Cherry chirped in excitement at the prospect of food and crawled onto Simon's shoulder. She curled her tail around his neck and gave Baz a baleful look.

"Do I need to leave the room?"

Simon shook his head. "No." He grabbed Baz's hand and pulled him just a little bit closer. He could see Cherry stiffen but she didn't make a noise or dig her claws into Simon shoulder, which was good.

"Alright," Baz sighed and glanced at the table where all the food was sitting. "Let's feed this little blighter."


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Ugh! I'm suddenly having a terrible case of writer's block! I promise I'll get past it but please forgive me if some of the scenes seem slightly empty. I'll try to do my best. Reviews are welcome!_

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOUR**

 _ **Simon**_

It still smelled like meat.

Cherry had especially enjoyed the cat food, turkey, and ham the best. And afterward, when Baz had had enough and went out to hunt, Cherry had decided to lick off her claws but failed to care about the fact that small pieces of turkey and steak littered the carpets. (They would probably get meat stuck to their shoes and socks for weeks.)

"Cherry," Simon sighed. "You are going to be a handful."

The dragon was curled up in his lap but she looked up with curious yellow eyes as he spoke to her.

"Of course, nothing I can't handle," he went on. "I've dealt with much worse than a baby dragon. That's not a challenge, by the way."

She shifted around to get more comfortable and huffed a sigh. Simon smirked, his hand rested gently against her warm scales and he could feel her rabid little heartbeat. "You're a cute little thing, you know."

Baz's disappointed face popped back into his mind from earlier. Simon still felt a little guilty about that, he knew that he shouldn't have because he knew that Baz wouldn't want him doing whatever he wanted just because Simon felt bad….

It was just…. The last time he had said that he loved somebody, Agatha had ended it with him. And when Baz had called him "love" at the Mage's death it had felt really good; too good to lose. He really didn't want things to happen and then to have Baz get bored with him and leave or something. He knew it was probably a ridiculous thing to think… But he still felt that way.

Cherry left her head with ears pricked up and growled at the door just before Baz stepped inside with blown out pupils. He leaned against the door after it was closed and sighed deeply through his nose.

"How'd it go?" Simon asked.

Baz shook himself. "Great, actually. There were a bunch of deer in the park."

"A Merry Christmas from nature," Simon offered.

"Right." Baz bit his lip and played with his canine teeth. "That's in, like, five days."

 _And I still haven't gone shopping._ Simon mentally berated himself. "Yeah."

Baz wet his lips and started for the kitchen. Probably to get a cup of milk or something, Simon figured, that's what he usually had that after a hunt. Just a small glass; he got a stomach ache if he mixed too much with all that blood he had just drained out of some unfortunate animal.

Cherry watched him leave then made a grumbling noise in her throat.

Simon got up. "Sorry, girl," he apologized when Cherry jumped off his lap and scrambled onto the coffee table so that she could continue watching the kitchen intruder.

Simon chuckled and walked into the kitchen after Basilton. "Hey," he said. Baz closed the fridge door where he had just returned the jug of milk and smiled at him.

"Hello, beautiful."

Silently, Simon crossed the room to kiss his cheek. "I'm glad you're back," he told him. He felt Baz's warm lips press against his ear for a moment and smiled a little.

From the living room, he heard Cherry chirping and glanced over his shoulder to see her standing on the coffee table with her wings rippling with interest.

She launched herself into the kitchen and crawled up Simon's leg. Cherry sniffed at Baz's nose then crossed over onto _his_ shoulder and curled around his neck.

"I told you it would work," Simon said with a grin.

"Yeah… I know." Baz sighed and smirked at the little dragon on his shoulder. "You're right more often than not, Snow."

Simon decided not to answer—after all he knew that wasn't true; being wrong was a special talent of his. "Does it look like she's getting bigger to you?"

That made Baz's smile disappear as he examined the little red lizard that seemed suspiciously larger; more the size of a cairn terrier than a cat, which wasn't _much_ of a difference but still….

"How fast do dragons grow exactly?"

"Depends on the how much they eat." Baz's eyes were huge, which alarmed Simon just a little bit; the last time he had looked like that was the night they had watched the Twilight movies together.

Then he understood. "And we just fed her…?"

"Enough for her to get quite a bit bigger, that's for sure," Baz growled.

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. "Okay. It's fine; we'll have returned her to her mum by the time she's very big. We just need a day or two to get her to trust us more and in the meantime we can keep trying to find out about how to summon her mother."

"Easy enough," Baz muttered. "But what if—"

Before he could finish talking, Simon gave a forceful kiss that made his bottom lip sore. He pulled away after a few seconds. "Don't ask that," he said breathily. "We can worry about the 'what if's later."

"O—kay."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Cherry hissed, jumped off Baz's shoulder, and ran down the hall into their room.

Simon glanced behind him. "Who—?"

"Dunno." Baz smirked a little. "Let's go find out."

It was Agatha. Simon had to admit that he was quite surprised to see her; they hadn't planned to have her over…. When she stepped into Baz's living room with a serious look on her face, Simon could never have guessed the reason for her appearance. Not to mention she had brought that dog of hers… what was its name? Lucy? Weird name for a dog. Simon would have named her _Watford_ or _Magic_ or _Ebb…_ something in memory of something important. Whatever, it was her dog.

"Have you heard?" she demanded and let the dog loose. "About that terrible man, Julius Laron? The one who's been stealing baby dragons right from their mothers while the mother is out hunting?"

Simon snapped to attention. "What?"

"Yeah!" She sounded outraged—Agatha had always been the animal lover. "The news was talking about it this morning! The headmistress has been ordering lookouts for him, thank snakes for her quick thinking, because they found a dead baby in the Forest the other day. A _dead_ baby, Simon! Apparently it looked like it had been killed with a **Dead as a doornail** , and a viciously cast one, too."

"But… why would someone do that?"

"That's what Headmistress Bunce is trying to figure out. Everyone knows that killing a dragon is one of the darkest things a magician can do, so I don't understand what could possibly compel someone to do such a thing."

"A girl maybe?" Baz offered as he sat down on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. "He's trying to impress someone?"

Agatha scoffed. "Yeah right. No one would do that, Basil."

Baz shrugged.

A pause. Then Agatha went on. "Whatever. I just can't believe someone would do this. So if you see someone smuggling a baby dragon, you've gotta inform the Coven as soon as possible—Ugh, quiet, Lucy! Why are you growling?"

Simon spun around. Agatha's dog was growling at the hallway with her eyes narrowed and hackles raised.

" _Lucy_!" Agatha called. "What's the matter with you? Why are you acting like there's a cat in the house?" She glanced at Simon and Baz. "There…. You _didn't_ get a cat, right?"

"Hell no," Baz muttered. "Can you imagine _me_ covered in cat hair?"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud hiss and Cherry shot across the room from where she had been hiding in Baz's bedroom and up Simon's leg to his shoulder.

There was a panicked moment where Agatha just stood there in shocked silence. Then, " _Simon_! What in Crowley's name is going on here? Why is that dragon on your shoulder? Why don't you look surprised? Why is Baz laughing!?"

Quickly, Simon explained what had happened with the alley, the wings, the dragon, the getting her back to the house…. "Do you think it was that Laron guy?"

"Duh! Who else could it be?" Agatha shook her in astonishment. "Simon, of all the stupid things you've done. Adopting a _dragon_?!"

"It's not like I had much choice!" Simon protested. "She's the one that latched onto _me_."

Agatha grabbed Lucy by the collar and clipped on her leash. "I have to go but we are not finished with this, Simon Snow," she growled. "I can't believe you two."

Once she had left Simon looked at Baz. "Well, I think we know how little Cherry lost her mum in the first place."

* * *

 _A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Okay, this is what I'm putting up as my Secret Santa thingie for now. I'm still writing and I'll post as often as possible! Hope you're enjoying! Let me know with a review; those are always welcomed and I'll most likely answer them if you have any questions as long as you have an account on ! See ya again soon!_

 _P.S. What do you think of my Agatha? I'm not sure how well I wrote her._


End file.
